Play Book Tag discussion

For our Fantasy and SciFi lovers,

Winners were announced over the weekend!
https://www.tor.com/2022/09/04/2022-h...

I will come back later to put links. Will comment that Best Novella went to A Psalm for the Wild-Built which I loved.

Also, nominees for best novel included 3 I did read and loved:
Project Hail Mary - pure scifi
A Master of Djinn - alternative history steampunk Cairo set in 1912 with djinn, angels, humans, demons
She Who Became the Sun - alternative history China retelling the rise of Ming Dynesty with LGBTQ twist. One of my top reads in 2021. I believe any fan of historical fiction sagas would like this. Book may not have won but its author won a side prize.

I have my Feminerdy Book Club to thank for reading most of these.

Thanks Theresa! It came much earlier this year? Last year it was December I believe.

I read the best novel winner A Desolation Called Peace and highly recommend the series. Political intrigue set in space with lots of discussion of colonial power racism and international (inter space? intergalactic?) diplomacy. It is more of a slow burn of a political thriller set in space with sci-fi extras.

So happy to see Seanan McGuire won for her series!

I still haven’t read that series. Do you recommend it Joanne?

Oh yes-they are short reads and there has only been 1 book that did not hold up for me-

I will move it up on mount tbr :D

I think your teen group would love them Johanne

Here are links to books/stories of the winners - and below the nominees:

Best Novel - A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine
Best Novella - A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Best Novellette (I assume this falls in length between short story and novella) -Bots of the Lost Ark by Suzanne Palmer
Best Short Story - Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker
Best Series: Wayward Children by Seanan MacGuire
Best Graphic Story or Comic - Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin
Lodestar Award (not a Hugo) Best Young Adult Book - The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik
Astounding Award (not a Hugo) Best New Writer - Shelley Parker-Chan who wrote She Who Became the Sun

Also rans:
Best Novel
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within - Becky Chambers
Light from Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki
A Master of Djinn - P. Djèlí Clark
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan

Best Novella:
Across the Green Grass Fields - Seanan McGuire
Elder Race - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Fireheart Tiger - Aliette de Bodard
The Past Is Red - Catherynne M. Valente
A Spindle Splintered - Alix E. Harrow

I will continue linking later. Work calls again.

Oh yes, Joanne!

Best Novelette:
Colors of the Immortal Palette by Caroline M. Yoachim
L'Esprit de L'Escalier by Catherynne M. Valente
O2 Arena - Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
That Story Isn’t the Story - John Wiswell
Unseelie Brothers, Ltd. - Fran Wilde

Best Short Story
Mr. Death - Alix E. Harrow
Proof by Induction - José Pablo Iriarte
The Sin of America - Catherynne M. Valente
Tangles by Seanan McGuire (Magicgathering.com: Magic Story Sept. 2021)
Unknown Number - Blue Neustifter

Best Series:
The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk
Merchant Princes by Charles Stross
Terra Icognita by Ada Palmer
The World of White Rat by T. Kingfisher

Best Graphic Story or Comic:
Die, Vol. 4: Bleed by Kieron Gillen
Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe
Monstress, Vol. 6: The Vow by Marjorie M. Liu
Once & Future, Vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies by Kieron Gillen
Strange Adventures by Tom King

Lodestar Young Adult nominees:
Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer
Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao
Redemptor Jordan Ifueko
A Snake Falls to Earth - Darcie Little Badger
Victories Greater Than Death - Charlie Jane Anders

Obviously there are plenty of other categories to examine if you are interested including fanzine and dramatic presentations.

What strikes me and is so exciting is the extreme diversity across the board. A far cry from not that long ago. The Puppy Wars are the reason this has happened or we would still be primarily seeing books by white men nominated and awarded.

Also want to comment that fantasy and scifi are still genres where writers first hone their skills on short works published in magazines and, today, online. Publisher Tor in particular promotes stories and short works, often making them free to all on its website for a time at least. Once upon a time, all writers first saw recognition and honed their skills with short works publishd in magazines and other periodicals.

I personally have discovered some of these writers through shorter works that somehow caught my attention (I don't follow fantasy or scifi much outside my Feminerdy Book Club) was P. DJeli Clark - The Haunting of Tram Car 015 specifically. I urge all to try a few stories because the next thing you know, that author will be a hot new writer being discovered by all and having many months long waitlists at the library for their books.

Ahhh, they didn't win! In fact, my friend Olav posted something on facebook about he and his partner (my friend from library school), Amanda (technically, she was my friend first), were up for a Hugo award and I had no idea what they were talking about!

THIS is what they were talking about:

"Best Fanzine

The Full Lid, by Alasdair Stuart and Marguerite Kenner
Galactic Journey, founder Gideon Marcus; editor Janice L. Newman; associate writers Gwyn Conaway, Jason Sacks, and John Boston
Journey Planet, edited by Erin Underwood, Jean Martin, Sara Felix, Vanessa Applegate, Chuck Serface, Errick Nunnally, Evan Reeves, Steven H Silver, James Bacon, and Christopher J Garcia
Quick Sip Reviews, editor Charles Payseur
WINNER: Small Gods, Lee Moyer (icon) and Seanan McGuire (story)
Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, editors Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne"

LibraryCin wrote: "Ahhh, they didn't win! In fact, my friend Olav posted something on facebook about he and his partner (my friend from library school), Amanda (technically, she was my friend first), were up for a Hu..."

It is still terrific they received a nomination...broadened those who read their fanzine. Look! Now PBT knows about them!

Just a bit more on A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine from the Washington Post if people are interested.

The author is a "37-year-old Byzantine historian who analyzes climate and energy policy for the State of New Mexico"

"With “A Desolation Called Peace,” Martine said she was exploring “whether there are better answers than apocalyptic violence when you encounter something so other to you that it is incomprehensible.”

Though set in a galaxy far, far away, the novel was inspired by an Earthbound event in the early 16th century, when the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro slaughtered the Inca emperor Atahualpa and thousands of his men. For Martine, that conflict was a haunting example of the horror that can result from groups of people “operating under the rubric of a reality they could not make comprehensible.” "

Theresa wrote: "It is still terrific they received a nomination...broadened those who read their fanzine. Look! Now PBT knows about them!..."

LOL! True!